A TRAGEDY.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 February 1922, Page 3

A TRAGEDY.

A WOMAN MURDERED. BY HER PARAMOUR, [by TELEGRAPH—PER PRESS ASSOCIATION] THAMES, Feb. 8. It was reported to tbe police yesterday afternoon that a tragedy had occurred at Pipiroa, Ilauraki Plains. Police and a doctor proceeded by launch and the Lands Department train and near a little hut, standing back from the road, they found a man, Arthur William Page, aged 33, lying with a gaping wound in, the loft breast. In the cottage lay Mrs Gladys Hutchinson, aged 30, shockingly wounded, the right arm practically severed and lower part of the face and jaw smashed, and other injuries. Both parties were conscious.

In reply to the police, the woman said “I was going home and he shot me.” The doctor immediately attended both patients. He recognised the woman’s condition as serious. Cars were procured and the journey made to Thames, hut the woman was dead before reaching the hospital.

Page was attended to and it is stated his injuries are not serious. Tt appears the woman was married to Thomas Hutchinson, a man of Maori descent, living near Turua. They had been married 15 years and have three children. About five months ago the woman left her husband and went to live with Page. Apparently the woman meant to leave Page and return home, by parcels that were found alongside the scene of the tragedy. A farmer named George Bertram Wallis, living opposite the cottage, was painting his house and was an eyewitness of the tragedy. It is reported that be ran over, when Page picked up the gun and covered him. Wallis retired to the road and got assistance. Another man brought a gun and the two went over and found Page near the woman, who despite her injuries, bad staggered some distance, evidently towards a neighbour’s cottage. They persuaded Page to drop his gun and took him down the road, and posted a guard over him and waited for the police. The woman was taken into the cottage. When tbe doctor had attended and examined the man the latter was smoking a cigarette.

FURTHER PARTICULARS

THAMES, Feb. S

The scene was appalling. Page was lying on the hank of Pipiroa Hoad, about tialf a mile from the v/harl covered in blood and his shirt huniu by the discharge. The clothes were matted with blood. The constable took charge and the party returned to the wliare. Near it was a bat, ling, biscuits, cardboard box, and much blood. Within on a wire mattress, lay the woman with her. face unrecognisable, right arm practically severed, and bones protruding from the lower jaw. The rool of the mouth was smashed and still bleeding freely. Two cartridge wads and pellets were taken out of the wound. Tbe woman was conscious still. Page’s injuries showed the whole of the left breast shot away from below the superficial layer and the pectoral muscles were exposed. The woman was placed on a door put across motor seats for the long journey to Thames. Low tide prevented the use of the launch. Page followed in the next car, smoked freely and chatted to the police. The wliare was small and poorly furnished. and the bundles tied up indicated a shift. It is reported Page secured the gun from a neighbour’s house. When found it was fully loaded. Deceased recognised her husband who arrived on the scene, and spoke to lum.